


Home Alone Part Marinette

by TheBrcklayer



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: And Adrien is concerned, And it coming back to bite them HARD, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Crack, Crime Fighting, Crimes & Criminals, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Being Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Gen, Hawk Moth gets Home Aloned, Hawk Moth has a Bad Day, Home Alone Inspired Shenanigans, Humor, Identity Reveal, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Is a Little Shit, Marinette means buisness, Pining Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Plagg approves, Pre-Relationship, She is such a little schemer here, They fear her, We Are All Alya Césaire, You almost feel sorry for him, idiots doing idiot things, seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29788155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBrcklayer/pseuds/TheBrcklayer
Summary: Nobody's tried to rob the bakery in years.There's a reason why.Apparently it's been known for Home Alone style traps thwarting every attempt. (Marinette's work of course)...Hawk Moth never got that memo.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 169





	Home Alone Part Marinette

**Author's Note:**

> Not making any money off Ladybug, sorry! (By and by, huge thanks to the ML Fanworks Discord for coming up with half of this shit)

The bakery seemed like an easy target, with very little protecting it beyond shutters and a barely locked backdoor with an easily picked padlock. 

It would have been so easy to break the lock, sneak in. And for one man, willing to try his luck, he was doing just that.

Antoine Lambert had been in and out of jail for several years now, mostly crimes like petty theft and B&E. Nothing too extravagant really. 

So he crept in, sneaking in through the backdoor and giggling like a fool. There weren’t even any security cameras! 

This was way too easy.

Then a howl of pain as a mousetrap came _snap_ over his toe and as he hopped around on one foot spitting and swearing… _Snap! Snap! Snap!_ Several more mousetraps bit into his skin, each nibbling at flesh.

He was screaming now, and generally causing a ruckus as he slammed and smashed into walls blindly, at one point knocking over a mop. 

Then the pain came again like a tidal wave, washing over him.

_Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!_

The floor below him was like a sea of mousetraps, which explained why this bakery was apparently so clean really. But it was _impossible_ to avoid stepping on one of them, this was like Tom and Jerry levels of cartoonish evil here.

And he was the tomcat in this situation.

Eventually, poor Antoine made it to the next door, only to feel a warm heat above him. Fire rushed over his head and utterly destroyed his hat with little flames burning away his hair. 

He let out a scream even as he hurriedly used his hands to put out the fire. But by now the lights were on and there were sprinklers soaking him to the bone to add even more humiliation.

And… oh, there were the bakery’s owners.  
  
“...what kind of people are you?” Antoine asked, huddled up in a corner. 

“...mhmm, maybe we shouldn’t have shown Marinette all of those old Looney Tunes cartoons Tom…”, the wife mused looking at the poor man.

“Well, on the bright side dear,” Tom said, finding something to tie the robber’s hands up with while his wife dialed the police, “...we narrowly avoided being burgled! I hesitate to think what would have happened if Marinette hadn’t laid all of those traps!”

\-------

Of course, just because one robbery had been foiled didn’t mean it would stop others from trying.

Take one Eugène Dupont. Again, he wasn’t really what you’d call a master criminal. He’d mostly been arrested for shoplifting. Maybe a bit of carjacking. Nothing you could really write home about.

Nothing you could honestly brag about, like stealing the Klopman Diamond or tearing the tags off couch cushions.

He, like Antoine before him, tried to sneak inside. He crept in from an upstairs window and was as silent as a mouse. 

But soon he would be as roaring as an elephant.

It would be a simple matter, sneak down to the cash register and grab what they had in there and then head back up and grab any family jewels. And then, sneak back out through the window.

Of course, not so simple when someone had planned for your arrival.

The stairs were unusually slick, not that he realized in time. It was only when Eugène slipped and let out a scream as he fell down on them that he’d honestly noticed. He rolled down the stairs covered in hot tar waitaminute… -hot tar? Where the hell did someone get that?- with his clothes now stained black as night.

This… this was fine. He was like a ninja, blending into the darkened room with his new camouflage while trying to keep his cool despite being burnt. If anyone came down to investigate he would fade into the dark.

Of course, while making his way to the cash register -not very cash money of him!- his left foot landed in a metal bucket. Comically, like something out of a cartoon he couldn’t pull it out and _clang clang clang_ it went against the floor.

And then the exact same thing happened to his right foot.

 _Clang clang clang_ , both feet went as he tried to be as silent as the freshly fallen snow. He was attempting to be the leaf, light as a feather. Instead, what he was really doing was being the thunderstorm. Heavy as a black hole with the footfall of Optimus Prime.

To put it simply, he was rolling a Nat 1 on stealth.

Needless to say, he was caught within about five minutes. Once again, Tom and Sabine were staring down a traumatized robber.

“...I wonder if we should be worried about Marinette?” Sabine had to ponder.

“Considering we haven’t had one person successfully rob us in years?” Tom shrugged again, reaching for the phone to call the cops. Officer Raincomprix was a family friend by this point. “I’m not too concerned.”  
  


\-------

By now the bakery had garnered a bit of a reputation. No robber ever touched it, not unless they _wanted_ to be caught. But every now and again, someone apparently missed the memo. They were usually from out of town, maybe even from out of the country. 

Others were just pretty… well, I was going to say there were pretty brave but actually, they were just plain stupid.

Bernard Martin was down on his luck, he hadn’t gotten a good score in a while. A bakery had seemed like a safe bet. He, while in the can had heard rumors about this place. About how it was impossible to rob.

His inmates were just making things up, exaggerating their failures to at least make up for getting caught so easily. 

He was about to find out that wasn’t… quite the case. Several bruises later, he was laying on the floor in pain and looking up at the stairs. At the very top of them was a little Chinese girl, her hair in pigtails and smirking diabolically.

“Geez, you guys haven’t figured it out yet,” the little girl commented. “Like, you’re all idiots. Is it something in the water over in La Santé? I protect this house. I protect my family.”  
  
There was something wrong with that girl, Bernard reasoned even as he was taken away. 

\-------

“...wow, look at this,” Alya chuckled in school a few days later. “Another one bites the dust! Maybe I won’t feel so afraid to go out at night.”  
  
“Alright, I’ll bite,” Adrien said, nestling himself next to her as he sat down. “What’d I miss?”  
  
“My girl here is cleaning up Paris! Ladybug gets the super villains, okay?” Alya bragged, her best friend in the back of the room blushing an interesting shade of crimson. “But my girl? Yeah, see, she gets everyone else! Criminals beware!”  
  
Adrien just looked confused. “...okay, I know I haven’t been here long but there’s something I’m missing here.”

“Oh, yeah, I suppose you wouldn’t know. Locked away like Rapunzel in her tower,” Alya admitted, before cursing Gabriel under her breath. “Right, well! Believe it or not, my girl sets _traps_ in the bakery. Like every time there’s a crime wave, she sets traps in her bakery and… well! Every time she manages to get someone arrested.”  
  
“T-Traps, like that one movie series? Home Alone, right?” Adrien asked in surprise, with Alya confirming it with a nod.

“They never know what hits them…” Marinette chirped, with a vindictive grin that didn’t look quite right on her face. (And yet Adrien would privately admit to being a little turned on)

“Isn’t that…” he searched for the right words. “Just a little illegal?”

“I figure it all evens out,” Marinette shrugged. “I mean, criminals get arrested, and my family is safe. We don’t even need a Neighborhood Watch!”  
  
“Marinette, you’re not our Everyday Ladybug,” Adrien gaped, stunned by her complete nonchalance to this. “You’re a criminal!”

“Criminals get caught,” Marinette deadpanned, even as she corrected him. “I haven’t.”

“How long has this been going on?” Adrien asked, looking to Alya for clarification.

“Longer than I’ve been here,” the dark-skinned girl readily admitted. “I’ve only heard about it via newspaper reports.”  
  
“Yeah, it’s totally boss!” Alix whooped from her seat and Marinette was blushing pink under the praise. “Because here we go, okay? Imagine you’re a criminal searching for an easy score. And then… BAM! You’re stepping on mousetraps, making a ruckus and letting everyone know you’re here.”  
  
“Some of my finest work,” Marinette admitted with a small smirk. “You’d think they’d learn to expect it, and some of them do by climbing in through an upstairs window. So credit to them there, some of them have a few brain cells between them. But they usually roll a Nat 1 on wisdom. They activate my trap cards, see? Like, the best part is watching them stumble around making fools of themselves on the security cameras.”

“It’s actually better than cable,” Kim agreed with a nod.

“Everything’s better than cable,” Alix put in. “But yeah, point taken. Sadly, the bakery does have a bit of a reputation now so nobody tries to rob it these days.”  
  
“That’s…” Adrien started desperately trying to be the voice of reason and common sense here. “...actually kind of a good thing right? Like, none of you are actually worried about Marinette seriously getting hurt!”  
  
“No, because the criminals never even get close to my girl!” Alya grinned. “Honestly, it’s always _them_ getting hurt. Usually by falling flat on their faces.”  
  
“But everything must come to an end,” Kim sighed. “With nobody trying to rob the place these days, we’re deprived of the greatest entertainment known to man or beast!”

His classmates were crazy, Adrien gaped. He was in a madhouse! 

“Relax, okay?” Alya said, throwing an arm around her friend. “Nothing’s ever going to happen to Marinette okay loverboy?”  
  
Adrien flushed a bright red and sputtered even as the heat rushed to his face. 

“You should just be worried about whoever tries to rob her in the future!” Alya went on. “Because _whoo boy_ I pity the fool who tries to ever break into her apartment! None of her designs will be stolen under my girl’s watch. Like they say, the fiercest ones wear pink!”

“Statistically speaking,” Max added, nodding in agreement. “Marinette’s home is the safest place in our class.”  
  
“So yeah,” Alix put in. “If you’ve got any valuables, maybe you could stash them there?”

“Maybe your entire Ladybug collection, dude?” Nino asked, he and the rest of the class apparently missing the interesting shade of red that Marinette was now turning. “I know you’ve got some pretty boss rare items!”  
  
“Mooooood,” Alya groaned. “I totally missed out on the figure with the spinning LED yo-yo!”

A note landed in the back of her head, from Marinette. She had one, she’d pass it onto her later.

“Thanks girl!” Alya whispered to her even as Ms. Bustier finally entered.

 _“Well, the rest of my class seems convinced that Marinette’s pretty safe,”_ Adrien reasoned, even as he listened to what Ms. Bustier had to say. _“But all the same though, maybe I should pay her a visit every night. It won’t hurt to add her home to my patrol route right?”_

Maybe the rest of his class seemed pretty certain that Marinette was safe, but… he needed to reassure himself. Paris had gotten far more dangerous nowadays. Common criminals were one thing, but what about the _uncommon_ criminal?  
  
The ones wielding a magical jewel?  
  
He shuddered at the thought. Marinette… Well, obviously Hawk Moth had no real reason to go after one of his best friends. But all the same, it wouldn’t hurt just to go check on her from time to time right?

He paused at the thought. ...did friends go check up on other friends as superheroes? This was normal right?  
  
He also paused at the thought of Hawk Moth going after Marinette. Why did he feel so worried, his chest constricting at the thought. What was the matter with him?

...and why, more importantly, did he suddenly feel very sorry for Hawk Moth?

\-------

Plagg, for the record, was laughing his ass off when he heard.

 _“Oh man, maybe we got this all wrong! Maybe Master Fu should have given_ **_her_ ** _the ring! Like, she is such a little schemer! The things we could get into…”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“And that is probably_ **_why_ ** _you weren’t given to her! She doesn’t need your bad influence!”_

_“No, she doesn’t! She’s already a Black Cat!”_

How reassuring. Still, like any Good Friend it was his duty to go check up on her. So, that night he perched himself on her balcony.

“Hey Princess, care to let in a mangy stray out from the cold?”  
  
“Does he have fleas?” Marinette teased, a slice of cambertert in one of her hands. ...that was a bit scary, maybe Plagg was right. Maybe they were a perfect match! 

“How rude!” Cat said, holding a hand to his check in mock offense. “...well, if that’s the way you’re intending on treating me tonight maybe I should slink on home!”  
  
“No, please come in,” Marinette’s eyes sparkled with mirth. “At least let me feed you, so you won’t have to go dumpster diving!”  
  
“Rats, and my favorite alleyway was calling,” Cat slunk in, welcomed into his Princess’ humble abode. “I only pick out the finest of dumpsters! There are very few which can be graced with _my_ presence!”

“Careful, I think I can hear your ego calling ever from over here!” Marinette teased, poking him in the chest. A half finished design lay on her desk, probably soon turned into a masterpiece. “So what brings Paris’ beloved hero to my balcony? Does he hope to scrounge for leftovers?”

“Oh, you wound me, to think I’d visit you with such a lowly request!” Cat laughed before the smile faded. “I come out of concern. A classmate of yours, Adrien Agreste. You know him right, the model?”  
  
Oh, apparently she _did_ know him given the amount of pictures on her wall! 

“He’s worried about you, Purrincess,” Cat went on. “He thought you were putting yourself in needless danger with your one woman crime spree.”

Marinette groaned audibly. “Oh, this again? I’m perfectly okay, I’ve been doing this for years. I haven’t been hurt yet, and local crime is almost non-existent. Nobody _dares_ rob this street!”

“Well, aren’t you cocky?” Cat replied.

“Rightfully so! But if you don’t believe me… Well, examine the evidence for yourself!” Marinette replied, pulling down a whiteboard from the ceiling. On it was a definite track of crime going downwards. “Ladybug handles the super criminals. I handle everything else.”  
  
“I’m just concerned, _we’re_ just concerned,” Cat hastily corrected his verbal screw up. “What if one day you get in over your head?”

“What do you mean?” Marinette tilted her head quizzically.

“Well, what if you don’t just stop at regular criminals?” Cat inquired. “What if you want to start taking down super criminals?”  
  
Marinette giggled, a wonderful musical chime that he loved hearing. “Well, don’t you worry!”  
  
She booped him on the nose.  
  
“I simply have no reason to go after Hawk Moth!”  
  
But the question still went unanswered. _“But what if you did?”_

For now though, he wouldn’t know the answer. But eventually he would find out. It all happened so fast, an akuma managing to grab her earrings one day.

Then all of Paris would witness Ladybug’s transformation fall. She kicked the akuma in the stomach, as the earrings flew back into her hand. But the damage was done.

Her identity had been exposed.

And in his lair, Hawk Moth grinned. _“Well now, this is surprising isn’t it? Paris’ defender is just a schoolgirl! That face… I recognize it. She’s the girl who won the hat competition, and impressed Audrey Bourgeois. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the bakery girl right?”_

Cat’s heart had stopped for a moment, realizing his Princess and their Everyday Ladybug were one in the same. Well, this certainly explained a bit, didn’t it?

He turned to glower at the cameras, after the fact, with his hand outstretched and dark energy circling it threatening rot. The implied threat was clear. 

Hooo boy, things just got a lot more complicated didn’t they?  
  


\-------

Marinette knew Hawk Moth was likely to be coming for her. He wanted her earrings, and he’d probably realized that no simple akuma would cut it.

No, he would be doing things personally. And when he came, it would be in force. It obviously wouldn’t be right now would it? No, attacking in the bright of day was suicide. There was an around the clock guard of Paris’ finest.

The suits only did so much to protect you, and she doubted even they would hold against a wall of bullets for long. 

So no, he would try a different tact. Something long time tested and reasonably safe. Like the ancient ninja of Japanese lore, he would come swiftly and silently. Probably this very night even.

She knew what she had to do, and this would put all of her abilities to the test. All of her skills as a trap maker would be challenged against the ultimate enemy. No simple burglar was he. Hawk Moth had the power of the Miraculous by his side. 

But! Even then he was still only human. Even then, he would not expect this. And she, thankfully, was not alone. She too had the power of a little god on her side.

Creation would face chaos. 

Chaos would face her mind. _“So Hawk Moth, you want to threaten my city do you? Well, let’s go then. I’ve wanted to take you down myself for a while now. I just thought it would be in a spotted suit. ...oh well, I guess it’s time to go for the old fallback eh? He’s not the only one with mad ninja skills! I know how to_ **_prepare._ ** _Watch out Hawk Moth, as it’s time for you to get Home Aloned! Adrien may have the power of God and Anime on his side… I have the power of classic comedy movies!”_

Time to line up her kill shot.

\-------

Hawk Moth came under cover of night, swooping in like a great black shadow over the streets. All the lights were out, the city of lights having fallen to blackness. In the dark of night, he would strike.

Landing on top of a roof, he was now overlooking the bakery. It would be so easy to slip inside, and steal those earrings.

 _“Then I’d be one step closer to reviving my beloved wife,”_ the villain thought to himself. _“Amazing, the guardian must have been desperate choosing a schoolgirl as his champion. He really thinks himself a hero? Heroes don’t let children fight their battles.”_ _  
_ _  
_ The alleyway he landed in was silent, and naught but a door stood between him and victory. 

_“He probably picked his champions from the first people he saw on the street,”_ Hawk Moth thought to himself. _“I forced his hand by revealing myself so early, he had no time to prepare. He should have sent adults against me, not children. I may be many things, but a monster I am not. I hate hurting children.”_ _  
_ _  
_ Of course, so lost in his own internal musings was he that he didn’t check the door. And then came the howl of pain. It was boiling hot, scalding red. The magic of the miraculous soon began nulling the pain and with a roar of rage the villain punched the door down.

It was surprisingly chilly in the house, actually. It was like everything had been turned off, even the heater. Maybe they’d evacuated? Maybe nobody was home? 

Soon, but too little too late he found his feet giving way as the poor supervillain came crashing down onto his butt onto a patch of ice. There was a giggle from somewhere above, faint but still audible. 

_“...so, she’s set traps for me,”_ the villain realized. _“The little brat actually set traps for me. Clever. But they won’t stop me for long. Soon, I_ **_will_ ** _have her Miraculous! It will be mine!”_

He picked himself up, slowly but surely. But just as Hawk Moth got up, he suddenly crashed face first onto the ice. With a growl, he began using his cane to support himself as he pulled himself upwards. Slowly,he tred forwards. This lasted about all of five minutes, and now Hawk Moth was on his back.

 _“I am beginning to reconsider my claim of not hurting children…”_ Hawk Moth growled to himself. 

He strode forwards, taking little step by little step before he felt something snap. He barely had time to look down to see the threads of a rope before… “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

No, he did not scream like a little girl even as fire brushed his dome, hairspray and a lighter combined to form a dangerous combination. 

_“I will admit this is… impressive, the bakery girl having time to set all of this up. But ultimately foolish. She could have used this time more constructively, to flee my wrath! And I am beginning to feel_ **_very_ ** _wrathful indeed!”_

Another step triggered another twine based trap. There was a small explosion, and Hawk Moth resisted the urge to duck for cover.

For his troubles, glitter stuck to him from glue bombs. A shriek of rage burbled up from his throat. He was supposed to be A Very Scary Supervillain! Now he looked like a child’s arts and crafts project gone wrong!  
  
_“This is humiliating,”_ the villain thought, looking at his now ruined suit. _“Is that what she plans to do, take me down with her? Ruin my reputation as a Very Serious Supervillain by uploading the security camera footage to YouTube? A_ **_very_ ** _dastardly plan indeed!”_

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had his respect.

 _“But… that won’t save her,”_ Hawk Moth decided. _“I will have her Miraculous!”_

He felt a squelch under his feet as he entered a new hallway, and suppressed a groan. Hot roofing tar was under his feet. His shoes were ruined. Stepping out of them, he carefully pressed his feet to the tile floor just beyond.

“So, is this all you plan to do?” Hawk Moth called out into the darkness. “Make me look like a fool?”  
  
“I don’t know,” a familiar voice answered back in a snarky tone, and he felt his indignation grow. So she _was_ here! “Is it working?”

Hawk Moth resisted the urge to growl. “You should be putting up more of a fight, Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Instead, you just want to place me on Candid Camera!”

“Oh, but I _am_ putting up a fight,” Marinette called back from somewhere above. “Come and get me, if you _dare!_ Oooooh, yes, major props to you as a supervillain. You’re going after kids. I bet you feel like a big man, I bet your mother is _so_ proud…”

“Enough babble!” Hawk Moth snapped. “I will find you, and I will-”  
  
“Yeah yeah, seize my Miraculous. You’re like a broken record, you know that right?” Marinette answered back. “In any event, this is all just to buy time. I have Cat Noir’s personal cell number. He’s coming. All I have to do is keep you occupied till he gets here!”  
  
“You will try…” Hawk Moth growled in turn as he marched forwards, only for something to hit him smack in the face. He was sent flying backwards in the hot tar, as a paint can on strings dangled above him.

“Gravity is such a harsh mistress…” Marinette couldn’t resist the deadpan. “So, who are you getting these Miraculous for? Or are you just about ultimate cosmic power? ...no, it’s definitely for a girl isn’t it? You want to impress her! Hawk Moth, the incel!”

“I AM NOT-!”  
  
“Nope, not helping your case,” Marinette drawled as footsteps retreated upstairs. “Yep, you’re definitely an incel!”

Hawk Moth pulled himself out of the tar, only to trigger another tripwire. From a spotted catapult that he had only just now noticed… dough came whistling through the air like a bomb. It was enough to send him flying back.

 _“How many tripwires does she have?”_ Hawk Moth wondered, now looking utterly ridiculous covered in glitter, glue and dough. And soon flour was to join that mix, a bag crashing down on his head from above his suit now white as a ghost.

 _“...I guess I answered my own question, didn't I?”_ the villain thought to himself carefully, tip toeing around the room heading for the stairs and trying hard to avoid any further humiliation. 

He failed as soon as he got to the stairs. There was a snapping sound, and then burning pain as pepper sprayed hissed into his eyes. He coughed and wheezed from powder thrown into his face.

Stumbling around the room, Hawk Moth activated many more traps in his bumbling. More flour bags swung down from the ceiling. One hit him in the side of the head, the next in the face and a third smashed him into the wall as he fell over the countertop.

Laughter breached his ears, and in pain the supervillain craned his neck up to see Marinette Dupain-Cheng sitting on the stairs in her pyjamas, trying not to fall over laughing. 

“So…” she asked, her voice coming out as a challenge. “Do you give up yet, or are you hungry for more?”  
  
He shuddered to think just what ‘more’ could have possibly meant, what else did she have in store for him? Rage overtook him, and Hawk Moth let out a little snarl. “I’m going to wring your neck, _you little brat!_ Come here!”

Marinette giggled as she scrambled up the stairs. Hawk Moth felt a tug, and realized some powerful force was pulling him upwards and attempting to rip the Miraculous off him. _Oh, so that was how she wanted to play?_

At the top of the stairs was an impossibly powerful magnet, red and black. Obviously one of the Kwami of Creation’s ideas. 

He scrambled up the steps, obviously not bothering to check _them_ for traps even as he held on tight to his brooch.

Hawk Moth was soon tumbling down the tar-covered stairs and rolling into the next trap. Like, literally rolling into massive rolls of fabric which wrapped around to him and stuck to him like glue. 

“Come and get me, Hawkass!” Marinette called.

“You know, your parents should be really concerned about you,” Hawk Moth snapped as he stood up and ripped himself free of the fabric. “There’s something wrong with you, girl.”  
  
“Says the man terrorizing Paris for two little jewels,” Marinette deadpanned. “You know, if jewels are what you really wanted, why not just go rob a bank? I mean, _sure_ it’s cliche as hell, but you wouldn’t look like an idiot. May I remind you, you’re beaten day in and day out by two teenagers.”  
  
“ _That_ will soon change…” Hawk Moth snarled as he carefully trudged up the steps, smashing the magnet in two with one swipe from his cane. 

He was in the living room now, and letting out yelps of pain as he stepped on little tiny Lego bricks. 

And with surprising strength, Marinette heaved another roll of fabric at him and let it wrap around him as the villain slammed to the floor. He was moaning in pain.

“...yeah, I knead dough day in and day out, these muscles of mine?” Marinette flexed. “They’re _not_ from the magic of the Miraculous.” 

Hawk Moth just groaned in pain, deciding to lay here and reflect upon his failures.

“Now…” Cat Noir said as he slipped down into the room from the upstairs balcony. “...who are you?”  
  
He plucked off Hawk Moth’s brooch, and Marinette gasped.

\-------

“So yeah,” Alya bragged. “My girl basically defeated Hawk Moth! Criminals beware, this girl means business!”  
  
“...yeah, some victory,” Marinette muttered.

“Yeah…” Alya sighed. “...just… uh, wow. I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised but I still am, you know?”

The news repeated the same story all week. _“Hawk Moth defeated, Gabriel Agreste exposed as supervillain!”_

Nobody knew what was going to happen next, or to be more accurate what was going to happen to _Adrien._

People were starting to investigate the household, and to Marinette’s horror they’d already found a mysterious glass coffin in a secret sub-basement. Inside, the missing Emile Agreste.

Marinette’s stomach had churned at that, having a feeling just _why_ Hawk Moth had been going after the Ladybug and the Black Cat miraculi. Honestly? ...she sorta felt sorry for him. Not that sorry, given how he decided to handle things but still somewhat sorry for the man that he had become.

...perhaps in hindsight, she wasn’t that surprised he turned out to be a supervillain with his personality. Little things began to add up here and there, such as mysterious disappearances and an oddly private life.

“Hey guys.”  
  
Marinette perked up at the familiar voice, and rushed to embrace a surprisingly solemn Adrien in a hug along with half the class for that matter before she could stop herself.

“Adrien!” Marinette said, still clutching him tight and trying desperately not to faint. “...are you… is everything alright? I mean, I know things are not ‘okay’ okay, but you’re not being held as an accessory are you?”  
  
“No, I’m fine,” Adrien said, probably lying. “...I guess I’m not so surprised my dad was a villain. He’s always been a bit of a bastard I suppose. It’s just… learning he was doing this all for mom? I… I’m not sure what to say.”

“Don’t worry Adrien,” Alya reassured with a wide sunshine-like smile. “We’re here for you.”

“Thanks. The government’s seized all of our assets, I don’t think I’ll be rich anymore by the time this is over,” Adrien sighed. “Oh well. The company’s probably going under, nobody wants to associate with the name of a magical terrorist. I didn’t like modeling anyways, so oh well. It’s just… you know, a change I guess? A very fur-midable one.”  
  
Well, at least he was making puns so he was sorta okay Marinette supposed. ...wait a moment, puns? Actually, come to think of it, that tone he took… it sounded so familiar. And _oooooh_ that hair, just imagining it a little messier… Wait a moment. Wait a moment! No, he couldn’t be! ...could he?

She was unable to stop herself, croaking out a singular word. “...Kitty?”

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to adventuremaker21 and Emperess for their help betareading this story, like huge thank you.
> 
> Yeeeeeeah, I'm aware this is pretty stupid, like utterly ridiculous. I *doubt* Hawk Moth in canon would be this dumb. But then... crack! AmIrite? I enjoy taking the time out and making him look like an idiot.


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